The Endangered Species Act and the many flora and fauna it has helped to protect will be the topic of an April 1 slide show and discussion at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Michael J. Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity based in Tucson, Ariz., will host the program beginning at 7 p.m. in University Memorial Center room 235. The presentation is free and open to the public.
The slide show will feature some of the animals and plants protected by the Endangered Species Act, including the American bald eagle, black-footed ferret, gray whale and Mexican gray wolf. It also will include photos of areas where the species live and historical documents relating to the act's passage and continued effectiveness.
Robinson also will discuss some of the issues surrounding the controversial act.
"The Endangered Species Act is itself endangered now because it's a muscular law that sets limits on clear-cutting, urban sprawl and other unwise developments if those activities will result in the extinction of an animal or plant," he said. "Special interests now have the ear of Congress and the administration and are urging the weakening of the act."
President Richard M. Nixon proposed the Endangered Species Act to Congress on Feb. 8, 1972, and signed it into law on Dec. 28, 1973.
Founded in 1989, the Center for Biological Diversity has offices in cities throughout the western United States. Robinson was the executive director of Sinapu, a nonprofit group dedicated to the restoration and protection of native carnivores and their wild habitat, from its founding in 1991 until 1996. He is the author of the soon-to-be-released book "Ecosystem and Empire: The Extermination of Wolves, Building of Bureaucracy and Taming of the West."
The presentation is hosted by CU Wildlife Initiative and is sponsored by the CU-Boulder Center of the American West, Sinapu, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club-Indian Peaks Group and Wilderness Study Group.
For more information call CU Wildlife Initiative at (303) 492-5024.